COOPERSTOWN, NY — After a 25 year career in Major League Baseball and decades more as a sports broadcaster, Zeeland native Jim Kaat is being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame Sunday.
The ceremony is airing live on the MLB Network this afternoon.
Kaat grew up and went to high school in Zeeland and then played two season at Hope College in Holland.
After his sophomore year he joined Major League Baseball. He played for the Washington Senators for one year. He then was traded to the Minnesota Twins where he spent the major of his career. From 1961-1973 he played in Minnesota and eventually had his jersey #36 retired in the middle of July.
During his career, he recorded 2,461 strikeouts, 31 shutouts and a 3.45 overall ERA.
Kaat's journey to Cooperstown is rather remarkable. He was 1-4 in 1958 playing for Missoula of the Pioneer League, and he figured he was one start from being sent home. Player-manager Jack McKeon gave Kaat a place in the rotation every fourth day, and he finished the season 16-9.
“I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about pitching,” said the 83-year-old Kaat, who grew up in Zeeland, Michigan. “I feel badly for the pitchers today because that's where you get your foundation.”
Using finesse instead of power, the 6-foot-4 left-hander pitched for 25 years before retiring in 1983 with 283 wins and 17 saves in stints with six teams. The last was St. Louis, and when the Cardinals won the 1982 World Series, Kaat became the only professional athlete in any of the major sports to play 24 seasons before getting a championship ring.
“It's hard to let it sink in, but it's pretty humbling (to be elected to the Hall of Fame)," said Kaat, who didn't play organized baseball until he was 15. ”I'm always thankful that I had a durable body and that I could last a while. I wanted to play this game as long as I could."
Kaat has a little league baseball complex near Zeeland named after him.
The Zeeland Little League plays at Jim Kaat Baseball Park.
Several years ago Kaat became friends with the current Hope College baseball coach, Stu Fritz.
"To have a Hope College guy be in the Hall of Fame and then to be able to strike up a kind of friendship with him and just listen to his stories and the history of the game through his eyes has been an awesome experience," Fritz said.
Kaat was inducted into the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. He made it into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
Kaat will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, July 24th in Cooperstown, NY.
